Maximinus Thrax

Maximinus Thrax (173-May 238) was Emperor of the Roman Empire from 235 to 238, succeeding Alexander Severus and preceding Gordian I.

Biography
Maximinus Thrax was from Thrace, and he was known as Thrax ("the Thracian"). He was granted citizenship under Emperor Caracalla as a free man of the Roman Empire, but he was considered a barbarian and not a "true Roman" by the Roman Senate. He was given command of Legio IV Italica in Pannonia under Alexander Severus, and he took part in the campaigns against the Alemanni on the border with Germania. In 238, Legio XXII Primigenia killed Alexander at a meeting with his generals, and Maximinus was elected as the new emperor. He had to defend his frontiers, fight against rebellions by Gordian I and Gordian II, and put down a rebellion in Aquileia, but in May 238 Legio II Parthica killed him, his son, and his chief ministers and his head was carried to Rome on a pike.